COMMENT

Campaign to Fight the PSI Legislation - John Elliot - 2nd August 2001

The following is edited from
John Elliot's reply to Carlos Sorentino's
suggestion to form a working group
to battle for a fair deal
under the PSI legislation. If anyone
wishes to help or contribute,
please contact John or Carlos.

Carlos,
Thank you for your email with the attached pdf info - copies of letters to parliament members and Mr Cadman's weasel reply. My apologies for not replying sooner. I am willing to assist in any proposed campaign. You may have seen a recent posting I made on the AusIMM web forum regarding the formation of a contractors' lobby group to include all industry groups - it was reported in The Australian 24 July. You can find details at http://www.contractworld.com.au
I have made initial contact with this group. Their incorporation is not yet completed but they are interested in gathering as much information as possible and using the network contacts of contractors. What views do our colleagues have on allying ourselves with them? At this stage, my understanding is they are proposing to fight for the repeal of the entire PSI legislation.

I have also spoken to Marcus Wigan who is heading the Small Business Task Force set up by the Inst Aust Engineers - he is also interested in obtaining information on the impact of the PSI legislation. You may already be aware of this task force through contacts with the IE.
Marcus's details are:
Marcus Wigan website: http://go.to/mwigan email links: mwigan@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au, mwigan@hotmail.com
I think your suggestion of an action group is well worthwhile. However, I also think we need to try and mobilise the members of both MICA, AusIMM and the AIG. To date, apart from a few whining Cassandras, (like myself!) there does not seem to have been a lot of concern shown. We should be striving to bury members of parliament with a blizzard of protest emails.
Regards,
John
------------------------
John Elliot
Anzeco Pty. Limited
mineral exploration consulting services
26 Casey Circuit
Bathurst, NSW 2795, Australia
Tel +61 2 6331 4925 fax +61 2 6331 9111
Email: johnell@ozemail.com.au